Navigating the Glamour and Grit of Handbag Sales with Handbag Industry Veteran, Jaime Levy

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hi and welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast with your host, emily Blumenthal, handbag Designer Expert and Handbag Fairy Godmother, where we cover everything about handbags, from making, marketing, designing and talking to handbag designers and industry experts about what it takes to make a successful handbag.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Hi, jamie Levy.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Welcome to the Handbag Designer 101 podcast.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So happy to have you Hi.

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<v Jaime Levy>Hi Emily.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Nice to see you.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you too.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So Jamie was the SVP of handbags and accessories, the SVP of sales and merchandising of handbags and accessories for Steve Madden.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>For how long were you doing that Past that?

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<v Jaime Levy>I believe I was there for seven years maybe around that, okay, and before that, where were you?

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<v Jaime Levy>I was at another handbag company called Accessory Exchange for 10 years.

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<v Jaime Levy>Before that I was at a luxury company called Richmont running one of their handbag brands, and then I spent several years in a family business of handbags.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, let's talk about the legacy of the Levy handbag business.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you were born into handbags and not the sexy kind.

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<v Jaime Levy>That is correct and it was the Ginsburg family.

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<v Jaime Levy>It was actually my mother's side of the family.

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<v Jaime Levy>I was fourth generation and really during all my summer breaks I used to go to New Jersey and work at the factory, slash warehouse, slash offices and work in accounts payable, do anything that they would allow me to do, because my mother said you need to get a job and I said okay.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's funny when you're born into it you don't see the allure or the cool part especially handbag garmendo angle of it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You see it as product that needs to be sold, that needs to be shipped, that needs to be moved, and you know the markup from day one.

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<v Jaime Levy>You know, I remember as a kid in high school, my mother who ran a handbag division for her family's company was a children's handbag division and she would come home from work and she would sit at the table with those gigantic blue and white computer sheets, you know, with the perforated edges, and she would go through the customer list, the selling list.

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<v Jaime Levy>She would really have to think with a ruler, with a highlighter and a ruler during dinner.

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<v Jaime Levy>And so I always saw her working and she was really into it, because she had a couple of really good years with some very, very good licenses and I sort of understood the business a little bit, certainly more than my sisters, but had no interest in going into this business like none zero.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You know it's funny, someone prolific, and it's so.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>They're so prolific that I can't remember.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Who told me once that we inevitably follow the footsteps of our family without even knowing it.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>As much as you fight it, it ends up being what you do In so many ways also.

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<v Jaime Levy>But really I mean, I was fourth generation and I graduated with a degree in radio, television and film and really hoping to be like the next Hannah Storm and do sports broadcasting.

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<v Jaime Levy>But you needed to know somebody and my effort wasn't exactly golden and I finally said you know what I want?

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<v Jaime Levy>To make money, I want to start and I know I'm going to be paid nothing, which was very true and I started.

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<v Jaime Levy>I worked for a cousin of mine who was like an uncle and really started the business with the math stores, with the, you know, walmart and Target and Kmart and JCPenney, and those were really.

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<v Jaime Levy>You had to sink your teeth into those stores to make money at the time and that is what I did selling those kinds of handbags I mean.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I always say Kmart, put me through college.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>That was the last, my dad being a converter, that was the.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>As far as I know.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I could be totally incorrect, but that was the last big retailer that he had worked with and the volume was so big and it was like perfect timing path to send a kid to college and having a family member in that part of the business, as opposed to the higher end business or the luxury business that kind of like, holds the curtain from the whole Oz element of what makes this business so sexy and exciting.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>We have to sell product.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's, they're not Van Gogh's.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>They need to sell move.

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<v Jaime Levy>Right, and I think that you know that was like.

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<v Jaime Levy>The first lesson I learned was you don't have to love it, you have to understand who's going to buy it, and that is so key in understanding sale.

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<v Jaime Levy>At part one of sales is that it's not about what you like, it's about what's trending in those stores, it's about what's trending outside of those stores, and the one thing I learned was that I was a good salesperson.

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<v Jaime Levy>I could sit with somebody that I didn't know and I could figure out a way to connect with them, to then get to the next level of how can we service you and build a relationship.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I mean, part of the reason why I wanted to have you on, even though you were technically no longer in handbags, is because the breath and wealth of technically that's why it's handbag air clutch quotes is just because you understand this industry and business so much of the inside outs and the dirty stuff.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And, like my first job, to your point, I was the only one in my family I didn't work for with my dad, like my grandmother was there, my sister was there, my mom was there, like you name it, every family member.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>My aunt was there and I didn't.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I think they didn't want me there, which was fine.

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<v Jaime Levy>My family I don't think wanted me there.

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<v Jaime Levy>I think they thought I'd be fine, but I don't think that that was the goal.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean it really ended with the generation above me.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah exactly, but I worked in media and I remembered my very first internship where it was really hot to have agencies.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I worked in an agency and to have like the TV networks take you out at the big lunches and I remember asking my dad like why don't you go on these fancy lunches and fancy dinner seats?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Like because I'm here to sell, I don't need to spend more time with these people.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>It's transactional, like we're meeting, we're doing business and then we're leaving.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And I spoke to this woman and she was like, listen, you would never out Open up a clothing store if you didn't know how to shop.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And that never left me and I'm like, wow, she said you can't.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Because I was like, oh, the buyer is the salespeople.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>The salespeople live the coolest life because they go on you know the big trips and the meetings.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Then they go and they go on the shopping trips and they all this cool stuff, at least from the outside.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And she said you have to learn how to be a buyer.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>You still learn at the people with the tightest budgets how they spend, why they spend, where they're putting their money, understanding the why of everything they do and understanding the why of who this customer is, before you can be that cool salesperson that's making money and commission Yep.

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<v Jaime Levy>Yep.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So I think you know, you have all people understood that from a super young age.

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<v Jaime Levy>Yep, absolutely.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So you were in the family business.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>How did you end up going from like rags to you know?

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<v Jaime Levy>just from rags to rags.

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<v Jaime Levy>Now I, after about five years or so or six years I had left to really sort of pivot into something else, potentially.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Was that a big deal Like leaving the family business?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Was anyone insulted?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>No, no, they cared no they wanted me to fly.

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<v Jaime Levy>They didn't really care where I flew, they just wanted me to fly.

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<v Jaime Levy>And I wasn't that happy and I actually was going through a big change in my life.

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<v Jaime Levy>I was getting divorced and I tried.

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<v Jaime Levy>You know I was.

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<v Jaime Levy>The music business was interesting, but the music business was changing very much.

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<v Jaime Levy>So at that point a lot of the record labels were closing.

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<v Jaime Levy>They were changing how they promoted music and then my family's company ended up buying another company that was a leather company that had multiple licenses and it was a change from doing denim and non-leather bags to something that I was more interested in.

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<v Jaime Levy>So all the bags before were not leather, non-leather Totally.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean, denim was really the way that again in the 90s or late 80s, 90s or maybe even before that.

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<v Jaime Levy>I just wasn't there because I wasn't born yet, but they did a lot of bags in denim and they really sort of like hoarded the market at Walmart and other retailers.

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<v Jaime Levy>So I started learning about what it was like to do licensed brands when I started working for this company, susan Gale, that my family's company had bought and they were making bags in New York.

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<v Jaime Levy>They were using like Harong Snake.

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<v Jaime Levy>They were, you know, making expensive bags and I never really understood how they could make money when they were making them in the back room of a 33rd Street showroom and they were shipping them from the back room of a 33rd Street showroom which is again to people that don't know handbag alley, and eventually they had to sell because they couldn't make money doing that.

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<v Jaime Levy>So my family's bought them and I worked there for the next six years.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Now, just to be clear what is a licensed handbag brand?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>What does that mean?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Just a clown?

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<v Jaime Levy>So we looked to in order to get into the department stores and to expand our distribution.

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<v Jaime Levy>We looked for brands that were hot in clothing at the time apparel so Ann Cline, ellen, tracy, susan Gale, which was the main brand, was a great brand, but it definitely was a brand that had its heyday 20 to 30 years earlier and even though we still stole to specialty stores, it didn't have the cache of a name brand.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So we did a license is taking a brand that is not in the handbag category and then inviting them and saying, hey, we will produce.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>We might have been in the handbag category before we're just writing that license now and you have to work saying and saying we will produce these bags for you with your name on it and a lot of times you have to work directly with them.

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<v Jaime Levy>Which I've done throughout my whole career is that you have to make sure that you're following their guidelines and, besides the royalties and everything else, you have to make sure that the aesthetic of the bags is in line with the aesthetic of the apparel or whatever category that you're-.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I respect to the overall DNA of the brand.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, so now you're working in leather, and now the company that had had these brands licenses per se were not profitable, so it was your job to figure out how can we make them profitable per se.

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<v Jaime Levy>Well, it really started getting those licenses when I started there Not because of me, I just happened to start there when they were diversifying their strategy and it was good.

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<v Jaime Levy>We had presence in a lot of the department stores that we wanted to be in.

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<v Jaime Levy>The department stores were constantly changing.

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<v Jaime Levy>We sold stores that are no longer in business.

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<v Jaime Levy>We saw the whole end of federated.

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<v Jaime Levy>So many stores that we sold are literally have been gone for years, and that's where I really learned about the off-price market, which, again, is such an important piece of anybody's business.

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<v Jaime Levy>As long as you manage that process the right way and make sure that you're not known as an off-price retailer, it is crucial to make money by having some form of an exit strategy, for whether it's leftover bags or a strategy of doing a symbiotic relationship between mainline bags and off-price bags, with the halo effect being the mainline bags.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, my God, so many things that I want to clarify, so this is perfect.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So what is an off-price retailer?

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<v Jaime Levy>So an off-price retailer could be anything.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean there's so many different ones now, but it could be anything from a TJ Maxx and a Ross to Saks, off Fifth to Guild and Rue La La to Amazon.

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<v Jaime Levy>You can have an Amazon shop that does off-price Poshmark.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean there's so many different distribution items of off-price now.

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<v Jaime Levy>There weren't when we had Century 21,.

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<v Jaime Levy>We had Nordstrom's Rack, we had a lot of the ones that are still not Century well, even though it's back, a lot of the ones that are still big today.

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<v Jaime Levy>But then that was it.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean, online was not in existence at the time and just starting.

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<v Jaime Levy>But yeah, it's a really important part of your business because and what's mainline?

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<v Jaime Levy>Mainline is when you're selling regular price handbags, even if they do discounts within the stores.

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<v Jaime Levy>The mainline is regular price handbags.

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<v Jaime Levy>So at the department stores, at the specialty stores, anywhere that you're not, it doesn't mean that you can't go into that store, like Macy's has last call, I believe.

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<v Jaime Levy>It is where you can buy off-price bags there or your bags could be discounted, but it's a mainline department store.

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<v Jaime Levy>It's not known as an off-pricer.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>And then, in terms of what do you mean by halo effect?

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<v Jaime Levy>Just, so the halo effect is that you know a lot of people immediately get into.

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<v Jaime Levy>Well, I did so much business at TJ Maxx in another life, I'm just gonna make sure that this brand that I'm doing goes back there.

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<v Jaime Levy>But unless there's that halo effect where you have a good business with a good reputation in your mainline sector, it's not important at the off-price sector.

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<v Jaime Levy>It's just not that.

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<v Jaime Levy>You know, the customer is not stupid, the customer understands.

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<v Jaime Levy>That doesn't mean that there aren't thriving businesses that are primarily off-price because, again, as long as the customer likes the bag and it's the right price, that could be enough.

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<v Jaime Levy>But in general, when it comes to sort of fire end brands or recognizable notable brands, they definitely wanna make sure that there is some type of presence that doesn't seem diluted and only at the off-pricers.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Just a question about off-price with your experience.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>So now people are producing exclusive collections lines for off-price?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, that was not the case so much.

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<v Jaime Levy>Yeah, I mean, remember, I try to explain this to people.

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<v Jaime Levy>There is truth that in off-price stores, depending on the store, you know if you go to certain areas of the store there is going to be cuts from the line, meaning extra merchandise from the line, you know excess merchandise.

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<v Jaime Levy>But if you're going to really service a really big store like a TJ Maxx or a Ross or a Marshalls or you can't possibly have overcut that much merchandise and make money by the time it goes to off-price.

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<v Jaime Levy>So you make again, keeping the integrity of the brands, of the look, but trying to get to that price point and not lose money where you're gonna close.

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<v Jaime Levy>You have to make sure that you are making bags that are supposed to go at an off-price price.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Now, that said, in your opinion or expertise, are these off-pricers?

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Talk a little bit about who the customer is, and is she looking for leather at a significantly reduced price because the merchandise gets shipped to mainline stores at the same time as it gets shipped theoretically to off-price because the collections have to rotate?

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<v Jaime Levy>Yes, but they're generally not getting the exact same stuff.

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<v Jaime Levy>I mean, look, there are some bags that they'll pick in shoes and they'll send to some of their top-tier off-price accounts because it's good faith, it's never gonna hurt anybody, it's a tiny portion of their brand.

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<v Jaime Levy>It makes the buyers happy, it makes everybody happy, and then it leads to much bigger orders of stuff that's cut specifically for these off-price accounts and everybody's best interest to make sure that they feel the same.

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<v Jaime Levy>But you know it's hurt very big companies.

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<v Jaime Levy>You know, I mean like a Michael Kors that you know they saw the light and eventually it became they choked the brand, it was huge, yeah, and that could happen with anybody.

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<v Jaime Levy>But there are some brands that that does not happen to.

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<v Jaime Levy>Because when you're not talking about a leather brand, the customer is still either getting it at a regular price store, possibly at a discount, or at the retailer you know of the name brand at a discount not all the time, but sometimes or they're buying it at an off-price store.

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<v Jaime Levy>It's not as detrimental as when you're talking about a high-end brand of leather bags.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, right.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>No, I mean I am a show From what I've seen.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Right, I've been here for 4,000 years.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, I don't know what the handbag dinosaur is, but whatever it looks like, I got to go to AI to say design a dinosaur that's made of handbags, ai or looks yeah.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm interested to see, like, what those capabilities are with design, because I actually I don't know how many people handbag-oriented have tinkered with AI and handbags, but I have gone to town like design a crossbody made of Croco inspired by this.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, like it's so interesting, especially with collaborations, that I'm working with so many brands that are not in handbags to bring them to handbags, like what would a bag look like inspired by bananas, and that's not literal Things like that.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>Okay, so you go to Richemont.

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<v Emily Blumenthal>How has that must have been an interesting change environmentally, say, I was wise, I was wise.

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<v Jaime Levy>I was terrified.

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<v Jaime Levy>I would be too.

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<v Jaime Levy>I met a woman who I had known for a few years because at the time I was fortunate enough to be able to take a seaplane to the Hamptons every Friday because I was lucky enough to have somebody else pay for it, that I was dating.

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<v Jaime Levy>And oh, well done, very well done.

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<v Jaime Levy>Well, it was a good run.

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<v Jaime Levy>And I met a woman who at the time was the chief merchant of Saxford Avenue and we became good friends.

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<v Jaime Levy>We were the only women on the plane, it was all like Wall Street people and we met and she knew I was years in a family business and she knew I wasn't necessarily in a place that I wanted to spend the rest of my career.

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<v Jaime Levy>And she was very, very good friends with a lot of people in Richemont, which, again, if you don't know what that is, it's like LVMH, richemont.

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<v Jaime Levy>They're big luxury companies that own a lot of brands and Richemont owns Cartier and Van Cleef and a lot of high-end brands.

00:17:47.051 --> 00:18:10.055
<v Jaime Levy>And she was very good friends with the CEO of North America and they were bringing back a heritage French brand called Lancel to the United States and she said I want you to meet him, I think you would be a good fit and you would be able to run sales with the president that was coming from Cartier IWARE and she introduced me and it was done and it was fantastic.

00:18:11.045 --> 00:18:11.827
<v Jaime Levy>How long were you there?

00:18:11.827 --> 00:18:15.109
<v Jaime Levy>I was there probably for oh God.

00:18:15.109 --> 00:18:20.410
<v Jaime Levy>I probably worked out of my house for the first six months until we had a showroom and then until I left.

00:18:20.410 --> 00:18:24.317
<v Jaime Levy>It was about maybe three and a half years, something like that.

00:18:25.128 --> 00:18:26.357
<v Emily Blumenthal>You stayed in places.

00:18:26.538 --> 00:18:27.263
<v Jaime Levy>I'm always impressed by people.

00:18:27.263 --> 00:18:33.988
<v Jaime Levy>I mean I've been to a lot of places, but I definitely am a thankfully stayer, if they'll have me.

00:18:34.189 --> 00:18:50.214
<v Emily Blumenthal>I stay Right, right, no, I mean, I hate making these vast gender-based blanket statements, but women typically stay longer because we commit to the work we put in and the loyalty and like I want to see this through.

00:18:50.214 --> 00:18:53.587
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you're like well, the new collection's coming, the new market's coming.

00:18:53.587 --> 00:18:58.105
<v Emily Blumenthal>Let me just keep seeing this through to make sure what I've done is good, right.

00:18:58.165 --> 00:19:10.233
<v Jaime Levy>I mean I also think that this industry even though I've worked with many salespeople that are men and a lot of executive management that is male and designers it's very heavy female based.

00:19:10.233 --> 00:19:13.785
<v Jaime Levy>I mean it just is Handbags have always been.

00:19:13.785 --> 00:19:19.527
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, yeah, not really when I was younger, but as I've gotten older, right right, right.

00:19:19.587 --> 00:19:29.253
<v Emily Blumenthal>Well, historically, tailors and anybody you know craft-based were men, and you know you go way, way back, even Indigenous cultures who?

00:19:29.253 --> 00:19:34.775
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I mean, those are all men, yeah, so you know evolution has changed.

00:19:35.045 --> 00:19:39.133
<v Jaime Levy>My great-grandfather that started my family business in.

00:19:39.133 --> 00:19:42.338
<v Jaime Levy>Maybe it was 1929 or earlier.

00:19:42.338 --> 00:19:46.345
<v Jaime Levy>Whenever it started it was called Leather Novelty and it was on in your neck of the woods.

00:19:46.345 --> 00:19:53.250
<v Jaime Levy>It was on Orchard Street or Orchard Street where yeah, it was right by where you live and you know we can have lunch right by there.

00:19:53.290 --> 00:19:56.698
<v Emily Blumenthal>There's a good place that has fabulous avocado toast and bacon.

00:19:57.306 --> 00:19:59.230
<v Jaime Levy>I mean I love all the food down there.

00:19:59.230 --> 00:20:02.538
<v Jaime Levy>I don't go there to hang out because I feel so young, but I go down there to eat.

00:20:05.030 --> 00:20:05.491
<v Emily Blumenthal>Me too.

00:20:05.491 --> 00:20:14.455
<v Emily Blumenthal>So what was your take working with bags that cost significantly more, and how did that affect how you sell and the perception of the customer?

00:20:15.605 --> 00:20:21.778
<v Jaime Levy>I think that, you know, handbags were going through a change at that point.

00:20:21.778 --> 00:20:26.825
<v Jaime Levy>This was in the early 2000s when we were really pushing the bridge price point.

00:20:26.825 --> 00:20:31.792
<v Jaime Levy>So the bridge price point was generally under $300.

00:20:31.792 --> 00:20:36.640
<v Jaime Levy>You had brands like Coach and the department stores were trying to move the needle.

00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:43.845
<v Jaime Levy>You had Monica Bacchier on the other day and trying to move the needle and do more volume at a higher price point and try to make some more money.

00:20:44.669 --> 00:20:46.096
<v Jaime Levy>And it was tough.

00:20:46.096 --> 00:20:51.845
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, it definitely was tough and I just thought, in general, that brand didn't resonate with American customers.

00:20:51.845 --> 00:21:06.845
<v Jaime Levy>It really stuck to the heritage part of it which was, you know, the customer base that was buying those bags in Paris and in, you know, all over France, in parts of Europe, in China.

00:21:06.845 --> 00:21:29.648
<v Jaime Levy>I think that they didn't evolve and sometimes your name's not enough and you're talking about a name that, even though it had been here before, I just think that everything went too fast and they were still producing in France, which again was the beginning of the end, in my opinion, because you know, profitability is what matters and you know it was great.

00:21:29.648 --> 00:21:31.031
<v Jaime Levy>It was a lot of spoken mirrors.

00:21:31.031 --> 00:21:33.778
<v Jaime Levy>We got into every single department store.

00:21:33.778 --> 00:21:35.442
<v Jaime Levy>You know it was the start of the shopping shops.

00:21:35.442 --> 00:21:36.845
<v Jaime Levy>So Michael Kors had shops everywhere.

00:21:36.845 --> 00:21:38.828
<v Jaime Levy>We wanted a shop everywhere.

00:21:38.828 --> 00:21:43.417
<v Jaime Levy>You know you have to pay for all of that and our distribution was great.

00:21:44.165 --> 00:21:55.828
<v Emily Blumenthal>But I think a lot of people don't even realize that a shop and shop meaning when you go into a Bloomingdale's and you see a little carved out section that says coach or Michael Kors, like they pay rent, that is all you know.

00:21:55.828 --> 00:21:58.073
<v Emily Blumenthal>Real estate cost per square foot.

00:21:58.073 --> 00:22:04.825
<v Emily Blumenthal>So not only do they have to pay rent, but they also have to make money above and beyond whatever they need to to be profitable.

00:22:04.825 --> 00:22:46.820
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yep, I'm going to make manufacture and market a handbag brand broken down to ensure that you will not only skip steps in the handbag building process, but also to save money to avoid the learning curve of costly mistakes.

00:22:47.306 --> 00:22:57.825
<v Emily Blumenthal>For the past 20 years I've been teaching at the top fashion universities in New York City, wrote the handbag designer Bible, founded the handbag awards and created the only handbag designer podcast.

00:22:58.385 --> 00:23:14.659
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to show you like I have countless brands to create in this in depth course from sketch to sample to sale, whether you're just starting out and don't even know where to start to begin, or if you've had a brand and need some strategic direction, the handbag designer 101 masterclass is just for you.

00:23:14.659 --> 00:23:18.574
<v Emily Blumenthal>So let's get started and you'll be the creator of the next it bag.

00:23:18.574 --> 00:23:22.805
<v Emily Blumenthal>Join me, emily Blumenthal, in the handbag designer 101 masterclass.

00:23:22.805 --> 00:23:34.938
<v Emily Blumenthal>So be sure to sign up at Emily Blumenthalcom slash masterclass and type in the code on cast to get 10% off your masterclass today.

00:23:39.386 --> 00:24:06.056
<v Jaime Levy>It was a shift in my career then, because it was the last time that I was going to go work somewhere where I didn't have an opinion of the merchandise, and I think that that is something that not all salespeople can do or want to do, but for me, I thought my knowledge of the market and the understanding of who shops and what stores was so crucial that selling a line like selling hardware or selling a handbag line I wasn't just going to do that for somebody else anymore.

00:24:06.056 --> 00:24:08.805
<v Jaime Levy>I was going to try to have a say in what that should look like.

00:24:08.805 --> 00:24:15.798
<v Jaime Levy>So not per se design it, but absolutely be part of the creative production of the bags.

00:24:16.286 --> 00:24:38.836
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's funny because when you're in sales, I know a lot of salespeople and this goes both ways A lot of salespeople who say, oh, I don't have any design experience, but by the end of not even so much their career but their time working at whatever handbag company, they end up being de facto designers and they're like okay, I know that this handle is trending, people want this handle, the buyers want this handle.

00:24:38.836 --> 00:24:40.439
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is what the handle looks like.

00:24:40.439 --> 00:24:42.207
<v Emily Blumenthal>Here's a picture of it.

00:24:42.207 --> 00:24:51.319
<v Emily Blumenthal>Do something that is, cousins with that handle in order to make it more sellable, because that makes it better for me, which makes it better for everybody.

00:24:51.944 --> 00:25:03.845
<v Jaime Levy>Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, you have to work, for I was lucky enough in my last two gigs to work for incredible bosses that saw something, and let me do that.

00:25:03.845 --> 00:25:15.319
<v Jaime Levy>They let me have a say and they let me work directly with the designers and at some points, became the creative responsibility of the brands or of the lines that I ran.

00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:19.152
<v Jaime Levy>And you know, I never considered myself a designer.

00:25:19.152 --> 00:25:36.011
<v Jaime Levy>The designers that I worked with over the years have been fantastic, but I think that the best working relationships were ones where the designer continued to do their job which I do not know how to do, but could collaborate with me so that we could be successful on sales end, because that's key is that you have to do.

00:25:36.011 --> 00:25:39.825
<v Jaime Levy>The worst thing is a designer and a salesperson that butt head.

00:25:40.105 --> 00:25:44.093
<v Jaime Levy>That is such a disaster and I've had that happen in my career, even recently.

00:25:44.093 --> 00:25:53.237
<v Jaime Levy>But because we're all in the same team, we all have to make the bank sell, we all have to sort of like kumbaya on the selling reports and everything that you need to do to come to market.

00:25:53.237 --> 00:25:59.476
<v Jaime Levy>But some you know, designers and creatives don't care about that input.

00:25:59.476 --> 00:26:02.510
<v Jaime Levy>They want to do what they want to do and that is a recipe for disaster.

00:26:02.510 --> 00:26:11.845
<v Jaime Levy>And some of the most successful things I worked on were, you know, truly a collaborative effort and that is really important to being a successful salesperson today, I think, in that industry.

00:26:12.527 --> 00:26:17.218
<v Emily Blumenthal>Did the designers sit in the market meetings, which the market meetings were?

00:26:17.218 --> 00:26:18.622
<v Emily Blumenthal>How many times a year?

00:26:18.622 --> 00:26:23.070
<v Emily Blumenthal>Where their markets per se so basically four times a year.

00:26:23.192 --> 00:26:24.294
<v Jaime Levy>it just depends on the brand.

00:26:24.294 --> 00:26:29.845
<v Jaime Levy>Some of them had a little more or a little less, depending on what, if it was a license, depending on what the licensor did.

00:26:29.845 --> 00:26:36.845
<v Jaime Levy>So if they had like you know, it's Steve Madden if there was a shoe market and it wasn't the headbag market, we'd still participate up in the shoe showrooms.

00:26:36.845 --> 00:26:45.292
<v Jaime Levy>Otherwise we had the traditional four markets a year from four seasons, and absolutely I mean designers and well markets.

00:26:45.513 --> 00:26:55.926
<v Emily Blumenthal>and markets were when the buyers came in and you, as salespeople, would present the new lines of what they were to buy yeah, recommended, suggested to buy.

00:26:56.007 --> 00:26:57.088
<v Jaime Levy>Yep for the future.

00:26:57.088 --> 00:26:59.852
<v Jaime Levy>Yeah, and design came.

00:26:59.852 --> 00:27:11.509
<v Jaime Levy>Sometimes I mean, I worked in a situation where I mean I wasn't even allowed to practically sell because the creative director wants to do it all which was her prerogative, and you know, ultimately things like that don't work out.

00:27:11.509 --> 00:27:21.845
<v Jaime Levy>But it's always great to have the input of designers and you really get the respect of the buyers when they see that design is listening to what they're saying.

00:27:21.845 --> 00:27:23.826
<v Jaime Levy>You know a lot of buyers come in.

00:27:23.826 --> 00:27:25.628
<v Jaime Levy>They want to make adjustments on the bags.

00:27:25.628 --> 00:27:36.240
<v Jaime Levy>You know whether it has to be like one big collaboration because, just like a lot of salespeople feel they have an opinion about design, a lot of buyers feel they have an opinion about your brand.

00:27:36.240 --> 00:27:48.825
<v Jaime Levy>Or, you know, because they know we shop in their stores and they know that our average customer needs a longer shoulder strap or, and if the designers in the room and can actually, you know, take notes on that make an adjustment about that, you get a lot of points for that.

00:27:49.766 --> 00:28:10.391
<v Emily Blumenthal>But you know, to that point sometimes, and this is why I feel like you as a salesperson have to kind of be the politician between design and the buyers with anything, because sometimes the buyers come in saying I need this, I need that, I need this, I need that, and then they overbuy.

00:28:11.605 --> 00:28:14.869
<v Jaime Levy>Well, that's not that's really your responsibility.

00:28:14.869 --> 00:28:19.915
<v Jaime Levy>You know you need to work with planning or if you are the planner yourself, you know a lot of the salespeople and planners.

00:28:19.915 --> 00:28:26.625
<v Jaime Levy>You need to work on that because stores will just buy as long as you clean up the financial mess.

00:28:26.625 --> 00:28:32.416
<v Jaime Levy>At the end stores will buy whatever they feel they need, even though you know you can't possibly reach the salaries that you need to be profitable.

00:28:32.416 --> 00:28:36.509
<v Jaime Levy>So ultimately it really does fall on.

00:28:36.509 --> 00:28:41.575
<v Jaime Levy>You know you get your budget from the stores but it really does fall on the salesperson to figure out.

00:28:41.575 --> 00:28:47.340
<v Jaime Levy>You know it's a little convoluted because the wholesale companies want to make money and they want.

00:28:47.340 --> 00:28:54.634
<v Jaime Levy>You know it's a little bit of a mess and they'll end up bringing your private or public and they want to make money and they want to show that your brand is growing, even if you know that the stores can't handle.

00:28:54.673 --> 00:29:05.151
<v Jaime Levy>The amount you're shipping into them is a cycle.

00:29:05.151 --> 00:29:12.938
<v Jaime Levy>You know it's a cycle which again, is great when business is good as a whole.

00:29:12.938 --> 00:29:16.618
<v Jaime Levy>The pharmaceutical business is good, fashion's in a good cycle.

00:29:16.618 --> 00:29:18.266
<v Jaime Levy>Accessories are in a good cycle.

00:29:18.266 --> 00:29:21.935
<v Jaime Levy>There's something driving the customer to buy handbags.

00:29:21.935 --> 00:29:23.970
<v Jaime Levy>You know that's just.

00:29:23.970 --> 00:29:36.619
<v Jaime Levy>It's like this and then you can eke out a profitable business, but that's not easy when the market is not where you are, and that's why we have a good cycle.

00:29:36.625 --> 00:29:38.451
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean, handbags have gone up and down.

00:29:38.451 --> 00:29:48.874
<v Emily Blumenthal>We can get into like finish with how handbags were at the pandemic because anybody who wasn't in that business took a, not took a dive, took a punch in it.

00:29:48.874 --> 00:29:52.768
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, like I took a punch right into real estate, yeah, I know.

00:29:52.768 --> 00:29:57.371
<v Emily Blumenthal>So you end up at Steve Madden.

00:29:57.371 --> 00:30:19.798
<v Emily Blumenthal>Talk a little bit about that kind of brand, working for a brand like that, how that works with sales and design and volume, because that to me I mean that's when we met and listen, I could talk about this all day and it's painful and uncomfortable because it's business and there's so many dark sides of it.

00:30:19.798 --> 00:30:27.894
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then listening to what you did and how you sold, and I bumped into you on the floor of Macy's I was just creating a program and I was like look at that.

00:30:28.164 --> 00:30:32.936
<v Jaime Levy>And I was probably on the floor making sure that all the bags were out of the stock room.

00:30:32.936 --> 00:30:35.894
<v Jaime Levy>It doesn't matter how high up in title you are.

00:30:35.894 --> 00:30:39.034
<v Jaime Levy>If your bags are sitting in the stock room, they're not selling.

00:30:39.464 --> 00:30:41.230
<v Emily Blumenthal>So that's what happened to me.

00:30:41.230 --> 00:30:43.869
<v Emily Blumenthal>I did it, Listen, my bags were a bulk.

00:30:44.270 --> 00:30:47.672
<v Jaime Levy>I want to say oh, I've been there too, taking bags out of the stock room.

00:30:47.853 --> 00:30:52.375
<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh, my God, All the company numbers were coming in zeros and I'm like what is going on?

00:30:52.375 --> 00:30:54.289
<v Emily Blumenthal>And they said, okay, we're going to drop your line.

00:30:54.289 --> 00:31:01.509
<v Emily Blumenthal>And my line had just gotten in and I said to the CEO of the company I was like I need to get on a plane, I need to go there.

00:31:01.509 --> 00:31:09.089
<v Emily Blumenthal>And I got there and crack of dawn, and I said it's not even on the floor, so why is it at zero?

00:31:09.089 --> 00:31:11.813
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I had to go to this room, open it up.

00:31:11.813 --> 00:31:20.587
<v Emily Blumenthal>I carried the tea stands out myself and I'm like I don't know how we can work this out with markdowns, because now I'm in the minus for something that was never even brought on the floor.

00:31:21.585 --> 00:31:23.625
<v Jaime Levy>That's just a Wednesday or a Wednesday, that's just.

00:31:23.625 --> 00:31:24.832
<v Jaime Levy>That is part of.

00:31:24.832 --> 00:31:35.094
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, it's one of the reasons why, ultimately, you should never have issues at Harold Square on 34th Street, because everybody's offices I mean now a lot of people are remote, but everybody's offices are right there.

00:31:35.094 --> 00:31:39.609
<v Jaime Levy>So if you're not in that stock room at least once a week, you know you don't know when the stuff's going to arrive.

00:31:39.609 --> 00:31:45.815
<v Jaime Levy>But if you're not there at least once a week, putting your stuff on the floor, figuring out what needs to go where, you're never going to be successful.

00:31:46.086 --> 00:31:48.513
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, it's a full, it's a two independent designers.

00:31:48.513 --> 00:31:54.288
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like it's a full 360, just because your bags or product get into a store Like you have to get it.

00:31:54.288 --> 00:31:55.751
<v Emily Blumenthal>That's number one yeah.

00:31:56.273 --> 00:31:58.186
<v Jaime Levy>Yeah, like it needs to sell after.

00:31:58.186 --> 00:31:59.952
<v Jaime Levy>That's right, that's right.

00:31:59.952 --> 00:32:04.015
<v Jaime Levy>People just you know, when everybody's a handbag designer I mean I noticed that trend come.

00:32:04.015 --> 00:32:06.933
<v Jaime Levy>A lot of people say to me why don't you just have your own line?

00:32:06.933 --> 00:32:09.605
<v Jaime Levy>I don't want to have my own line, like.

00:32:09.625 --> 00:32:23.766
<v Jaime Levy>I know how difficult the business is and actually having my own line, and I know how many people have their online and fail, and I know how many people think that this is, for whatever reason, like entry level fashion, like you can do.

00:32:23.766 --> 00:32:29.617
<v Jaime Levy>You know, every celebrity, everybody has a handbag line, but it's a tough business.

00:32:29.617 --> 00:32:33.372
<v Jaime Levy>You know, I was a tough business too, but handbags is, you know, I forget it.

00:32:33.471 --> 00:32:34.915
<v Emily Blumenthal>A parallel, I would say it's a crowded business.

00:32:34.915 --> 00:32:37.590
<v Emily Blumenthal>Anything that has sizing, not for me.

00:32:37.590 --> 00:32:40.994
<v Emily Blumenthal>I don't want to go near that because the charge backs alone of things.

00:32:40.994 --> 00:32:42.590
<v Emily Blumenthal>I don't want to be part of that.

00:32:42.590 --> 00:32:44.469
<v Emily Blumenthal>I remember that from my dad's business.

00:32:44.469 --> 00:32:47.875
<v Emily Blumenthal>Like you know, legs one leg is being longer than the other.

00:32:47.875 --> 00:32:56.070
<v Emily Blumenthal>I mean that's the stuff that we would get, like here's a pair of gas jeans with a bad dye job and the dye lot didn't match this, and so that was the clothes that we got to wear.

00:32:56.070 --> 00:33:07.636
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, the labels that were the mistakes you know, funnily enough, as what you were just talking about going in and working and making sure the stuff is merchandised and all of that.

00:33:08.325 --> 00:33:14.397
<v Emily Blumenthal>When I got my bags into retail, knowing what I knew I would go.

00:33:14.397 --> 00:33:25.547
<v Emily Blumenthal>And the turnover of the people who work in these stores, because people don't seem to realize that most people who work in department stores only less than half are career department store workers.

00:33:25.547 --> 00:33:40.615
<v Emily Blumenthal>That you know the women at Bendles when my stuff got into Bendles she was there the entire time, down to the store shut Like she was there for 20 odd years and lovely woman and she was in candles and she was in this because the turnover was so high and no one knew my brand.

00:33:40.615 --> 00:33:46.747
<v Emily Blumenthal>I would go there every six months to have a meet and greet, organizing it, to meet the floor staff.

00:33:46.747 --> 00:33:49.473
<v Emily Blumenthal>Have muffins, have juice, have coffee.

00:33:49.815 --> 00:33:54.193
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is the brand, this is what, and I always say don't bring bagels, because that's like that distracts people.

00:33:54.193 --> 00:33:55.767
<v Emily Blumenthal>They've got to cut and put stuff on.

00:33:55.767 --> 00:33:58.012
<v Emily Blumenthal>Only have muffins, like food you can sit and eat.

00:33:58.012 --> 00:33:58.996
<v Emily Blumenthal>Have a juice.

00:33:58.996 --> 00:34:00.748
<v Emily Blumenthal>I'm going to introduce you to my brand.

00:34:00.748 --> 00:34:01.509
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is what it is.

00:34:01.509 --> 00:34:02.412
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is the DNA.

00:34:02.412 --> 00:34:03.513
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is what makes it special.

00:34:03.513 --> 00:34:04.355
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is the customer.

00:34:04.355 --> 00:34:06.811
<v Emily Blumenthal>People don't realize that that needs to happen.

00:34:07.325 --> 00:34:14.641
<v Jaime Levy>I mean really how it happens now, or at least it did when I was in the business for many years and I did many of them myself and other times we had companies do them.

00:34:14.641 --> 00:34:35.652
<v Jaime Levy>But the regional managers said that people that work on the floor report to these regional managers and it was really important that you go and many brands that I did that you go and explain everything about your bags and how to wear certain things and why certain things are done and what they relate to, and then they are supposed to then go down to their floors and have their bagel meeting with all those people.

00:34:35.652 --> 00:34:42.577
<v Jaime Levy>There's so many layers to have a line be a success and people don't realize that.

00:34:42.577 --> 00:34:47.206
<v Jaime Levy>I think one of the most important things that people don't realize is you need to go look who's shopping.

00:34:47.206 --> 00:34:56.572
<v Jaime Levy>You can put 300% blah, blah, blah, but if you actually sit there I mean that was something that Steve Madden did the day in and day out.

00:34:56.572 --> 00:35:01.677
<v Jaime Levy>He always showed up and he sat in his shoe departments and he watched how people shop.

00:35:02.425 --> 00:35:03.489
<v Jaime Levy>That is so key.

00:35:03.489 --> 00:35:04.431
<v Jaime Levy>That's how you figure out.

00:35:04.431 --> 00:35:05.514
<v Jaime Levy>You don't have one customer.

00:35:05.514 --> 00:35:11.458
<v Jaime Levy>You have customer bases in this region and in this region or this store, and it's the same with handbags.

00:35:11.458 --> 00:35:27.675
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, I've worked on brands where people assumed a certain customer was buying them and really the core customer that was buying them was nothing to do with when the design went into it, nothing to do with who the end user was.

00:35:27.675 --> 00:35:34.148
<v Jaime Levy>I think that's super important is to understand it's not necessarily how you see things, but it's how things are.

00:35:34.148 --> 00:35:43.110
<v Jaime Levy>I think every store has a different take and has a different customer base, and one of the two is the complication of doing a fashion.

00:35:44.485 --> 00:35:52.871
<v Emily Blumenthal>I want to speak more about how the sales process was for handbags at a brand at the level of volume of Steve Madden.

00:35:52.871 --> 00:35:55.172
<v Emily Blumenthal>Could you talk a little bit about that process?

00:35:55.425 --> 00:36:03.932
<v Jaime Levy>I mean again, I was in a little bit of different position because most of the time I was there I was in merchandising, design and sales.

00:36:03.932 --> 00:36:11.536
<v Jaime Levy>So I had certain brands where I worked with the most amazing designers I think you know some of them who I could never do it alone.

00:36:11.536 --> 00:36:25.498
<v Jaime Levy>I don't know how to draw a pencil, but I was able to go to Europe and to different regions in the US and shop for a type of look, a feeling, especially of a brand that didn't necessarily.

00:36:25.498 --> 00:36:27.630
<v Jaime Levy>You know, steve Madden is great.

00:36:27.630 --> 00:36:28.875
<v Jaime Levy>It's a great inspirational brand.

00:36:28.875 --> 00:36:36.271
<v Jaime Levy>So they know they're going to have a home run when they do a similar version to something that's happening big in luxury.

00:36:36.271 --> 00:36:38.710
<v Jaime Levy>It's their success in shoes, no secret.

00:36:38.710 --> 00:36:39.934
<v Jaime Levy>It's their success in handbags.

00:36:39.934 --> 00:36:41.106
<v Jaime Levy>That's just how it is.

00:36:41.106 --> 00:36:47.331
<v Jaime Levy>But that's not necessarily the case for a lot of the other brands that are at the company and other businesses that I work for.

00:36:47.632 --> 00:36:53.856
<v Jaime Levy>And I think that you know you start with sort of the inspiration, and the inspiration comes from lots of different places.

00:36:53.856 --> 00:36:55.431
<v Jaime Levy>I mean one of my best friends.

00:36:55.431 --> 00:37:04.108
<v Jaime Levy>We were out at her beach house Labor Day weekend and my daughter was there and she always gives my daughter old bags that she has that she just hasn't worn for years.

00:37:04.108 --> 00:37:05.972
<v Jaime Levy>And my daughter said, let me pick one.

00:37:05.972 --> 00:37:08.992
<v Jaime Levy>And she picked one and she held it up and she says, can I have this one?

00:37:08.992 --> 00:37:18.454
<v Jaime Levy>She goes, that's one of your moms and it was like you know something that would have vintage Steve Battons per se, actually before that, but it was like a vintage nineties, which is what's happening now.

00:37:18.454 --> 00:37:21.018
<v Jaime Levy>Especially if you're a teenager, everybody wants to wear like a night.

00:37:21.018 --> 00:37:21.699
<v Jaime Levy>Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:37:22.105 --> 00:37:29.313
<v Jaime Levy>And I think that you go so many different places for inspiration and, again, I always had my sales hat on.

00:37:29.313 --> 00:37:37.650
<v Jaime Levy>So it's great, you could see something amazing, or the structure is great, or it's a little wacky, or, but you have to keep your sales hat on who's going to buy this?

00:37:37.650 --> 00:38:06.626
<v Jaime Levy>And then you come back, you are with the designers during this whole process and you come back and you work with the designers and you let them do their thing and if they're good designers which thankfully, are always worked with amazing creatives they know how to put out again an align that embodies both this sort of feeling that you had as well as a line that is going to fit into, because you know every store comes and they want to make sure, unless it's a one-off item, right?

00:38:06.626 --> 00:38:22.710
<v Jaime Levy>They want to make sure that they're getting a collection that represents their customer and also can fill their fixtures and you know, make sure that the colors are correct and all of those things, and that is what you work with design and merchandising prior, and then it's showtime.

00:38:23.405 --> 00:38:27.867
<v Emily Blumenthal>How many pieces were sorry, how many pieces were in a collection for that I mean?

00:38:28.469 --> 00:38:38.735
<v Jaime Levy>that depends, because a collection like Betsy Johnson was super different, because even though sure you had hobos and satchels and totes, there was such a big element of bags that didn't fit to any category.

00:38:38.735 --> 00:38:42.414
<v Jaime Levy>Right, you know, kids bags or just anything.

00:38:42.414 --> 00:38:44.369
<v Jaime Levy>You know, right, a clock bag.

00:38:44.369 --> 00:38:49.990
<v Jaime Levy>But in general, you know, the buyers were coming and they were looking for, certainly, a work tote.

00:38:49.990 --> 00:39:00.737
<v Jaime Levy>They were looking for cross bodies, because hands-free is still, I mean, how everybody lives their life, and then, depending on the season, our hobos in, our satchels in is handheld in.

00:39:01.144 --> 00:39:03.052
<v Jaime Levy>You know, there's so many different ways.

00:39:03.052 --> 00:39:05.494
<v Jaime Levy>It used to be like you had to have five standard bags.

00:39:05.494 --> 00:39:20.112
<v Jaime Levy>It's not necessarily at least again, I'm speaking a few years ago that's not 100 percent necessary, because they may be filling that need with another vendor, like, let's say that they're already getting a athleisure tote from an emcee Wallace, they don't necessarily need yours.

00:39:20.112 --> 00:39:35.532
<v Jaime Levy>That doesn't mean there isn't going to be a distribution, that will take it, but it may not be part of your department store collection, right, but you definitely, you know the tote, the cross body and like a handbag, is definitely where you want to start.

00:39:35.684 --> 00:39:41.534
<v Emily Blumenthal>And then you know what's your take on clutches, Because I know clutches have a place.

00:39:42.067 --> 00:39:45.204
<v Jaime Levy>Clutches are amazing if a store commercialized them.

00:39:45.204 --> 00:39:46.643
<v Jaime Levy>So that's the issue.

00:39:46.643 --> 00:39:47.929
<v Jaime Levy>You know that soft.

00:39:47.929 --> 00:40:01.824
<v Jaime Levy>You know not naming names but that soft clutch that was very big and still is for the past several years from a designer brand that everybody has now, you know, people are not carrying them with their shoulder strap.

00:40:01.824 --> 00:40:06.177
<v Jaime Levy>It's nice to offer a shoulder, whether it's a chain strap or a leather strap or a PU strap.

00:40:06.177 --> 00:40:07.925
<v Jaime Levy>You know it's nice that you could tuck it in the bag.

00:40:08.228 --> 00:40:13.416
<v Jaime Levy>Some people need their hands free so when they're drinking their drink they can't be holding a clutch that has no handle.

00:40:13.416 --> 00:40:20.744
<v Jaime Levy>But in general, clutch is a great category and it's in, you know, some departments, stores have evening areas, some you just merchandise it.

00:40:20.744 --> 00:40:41.916
<v Jaime Levy>It's just making sure that you, even if you as the vendor have to provide the fixtures, you just have to figure out a way, because a lot of times if you take a beautiful clutch and you hang it up on a T stand or you hang it up on a whatever those things are called, on a, no, but the racks, you know, oh, yeah, yeah, if you hang it on a waterfall, on a chain, the bag just doesn't look right.

00:40:41.916 --> 00:40:44.164
<v Jaime Levy>Waterfalls, yeah, the bag just doesn't look as good.

00:40:44.164 --> 00:40:49.472
<v Jaime Levy>So you have to just make sure that you're not only designing it, but you're figuring out what it's going to look like when it hits the floors.

00:40:49.885 --> 00:40:58.125
<v Emily Blumenthal>Yeah, and I just want to speak to this last point before we wrap up the that look, I'm like, do you know how long we've been talking?

00:40:58.125 --> 00:41:01.364
<v Emily Blumenthal>No, it's what happens with you and I, emily handbags.

00:41:01.364 --> 00:41:09.465
<v Emily Blumenthal>But the fact that a lot of people don't seem to realize that, as a bag cannot sit on its own, it will die.

00:41:09.465 --> 00:41:11.545
<v Emily Blumenthal>It will die a sad, slow death.

00:41:11.545 --> 00:41:17.402
<v Emily Blumenthal>The bags always need to be able to sit up straight without any help or or look.

00:41:17.994 --> 00:41:26.652
<v Jaime Levy>Some bags can sit up straight, that's just the nature of the bag, or they just have to have the right holder, urgentizing Clutch holder, I mean that's.

00:41:26.652 --> 00:41:27.943
<v Jaime Levy>I mean we, even for small other goods.

00:41:27.943 --> 00:41:32.440
<v Jaime Levy>I mean we used to have to buy for the stores because they won't buy anything.

00:41:32.440 --> 00:41:47.416
<v Jaime Levy>A lot of them Plastic loose site, you know, containers, so that you can, you know, line them up so it looks more boutique, because in certain stores everything's under glass and that's fine, but in a lot of stores it's open, sell and you still have to hang out there.

00:41:48.487 --> 00:41:51.545
<v Emily Blumenthal>So I know you're not in handbags anymore.

00:41:51.545 --> 00:41:55.065
<v Emily Blumenthal>What is your take on what's going on in the market right now?

00:41:56.028 --> 00:42:01.599
<v Jaime Levy>I mean I'm still in the market because I'm still in the scoomer and think that there's still a lot of recovery from COVID.

00:42:01.599 --> 00:42:04.382
<v Jaime Levy>I still shop at a lot of the stores that I worked at.

00:42:04.382 --> 00:42:20.065
<v Jaime Levy>I have a 15 year old daughter, so I know what's going on in the stores and you know and I have friends right now that are in the market looking for jobs and I think I know that off-priced is doing well from what I'm probably not as well as they did, you know, in the Tay Day.

00:42:20.065 --> 00:42:24.065
<v Jaime Levy>But I think that the market has a lot of recovering to do still.

00:42:24.065 --> 00:42:32.065
<v Jaime Levy>Just, every market has recovering to do, but it's never going to go away and handbags is always going to be a much easier purchase than a pair of pants.

00:42:32.065 --> 00:42:41.931
<v Jaime Levy>You know, handbags and shoes are the first thing that a consumer wants when they don't want to have to take their clothes off, go into a dressing room or buy something online that they don't know how it's going to fit.

00:42:41.931 --> 00:42:43.418
<v Jaime Levy>I think that it's going to.

00:42:43.418 --> 00:42:44.065
<v Jaime Levy>We'll gain momentum again.

00:42:44.065 --> 00:42:44.934
<v Jaime Levy>Will we will gain momentum again?

00:42:47.251 --> 00:42:49.762
<v Emily Blumenthal>What do you think the sweet spot of handbags are right now?

00:42:49.762 --> 00:42:52.065
<v Emily Blumenthal>Price point, in your opinion.

00:42:53.148 --> 00:42:53.972
<v Jaime Levy>Price point.

00:42:53.972 --> 00:43:01.065
<v Jaime Levy>I think, if you can, again designer's, designer, and some of the prices are absolutely ridiculous.

00:43:01.065 --> 00:43:08.675
<v Jaime Levy>I mean I just can't with Chanel, I just can't, oh my God, I hold onto every one of those articles.

00:43:08.976 --> 00:43:09.297
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's crazy.

00:43:09.297 --> 00:43:10.222
<v Emily Blumenthal>It's like now $6,000.

00:43:10.222 --> 00:43:11.065
<v Emily Blumenthal>Now $8,000.

00:43:12.373 --> 00:43:14.065
<v Jaime Levy>And yeah, I mean it's just also coming from handbags.

00:43:14.065 --> 00:43:16.072
<v Jaime Levy>It's like it's crazy.

00:43:16.092 --> 00:43:18.503
<v Emily Blumenthal>I know, I know, you know.

00:43:18.503 --> 00:43:24.219
<v Emily Blumenthal>I still think that the customer seems to be analabastic and still coming back because it still carries that I don't know.

00:43:24.219 --> 00:43:25.684
<v Emily Blumenthal>There's also a resale value.

00:43:25.704 --> 00:43:28.492
<v Jaime Levy>Now you have straight faces that you can sell your bag.

00:43:28.492 --> 00:43:30.068
<v Jaime Levy>So I think that.

00:43:30.068 --> 00:43:37.731
<v Jaime Levy>So the resistance is not as much as it could have been if we didn't have online channels to resell your bag Right or even go on Instagram.

00:43:37.731 --> 00:43:38.353
<v Jaime Levy>You could resell it.

00:43:38.353 --> 00:43:39.695
<v Jaime Levy>You know, I'm right, it's easy.

00:43:39.695 --> 00:44:02.067
<v Jaime Levy>But I think that if you can still for an aspirational customer, if you can still hit a again, I'm not talking about somebody that is making, you know, $75,000, because I still think that $350,000 and under is a super important price point and really harder to hit with inflation and every.

00:44:02.067 --> 00:44:04.536
<v Jaime Levy>You know everything went up in price.

00:44:04.536 --> 00:44:07.108
<v Jaime Levy>You know, the peace goods, the, the hardware.

00:44:07.108 --> 00:44:14.945
<v Jaime Levy>So I think that either the companies are going to make less profit, which they're not going to do, especially if they're a company or they're going to have to take price points up.

00:44:14.945 --> 00:44:16.592
<v Jaime Levy>So I think it's a tough market for that reason.

00:44:17.235 --> 00:44:22.210
<v Jaime Levy>But I think, if you can get the under six, a lot of vintage brands are coming back.

00:44:22.210 --> 00:44:28.570
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, I just bought an ill-bissonse bag because I needed a tote, a new tote.

00:44:28.570 --> 00:44:43.978
<v Jaime Levy>I'm carrying something I bought years ago, which is fine, but I needed something new that felt like me and I didn't want something structured, because that doesn't feel like me with my job and I'm running around all the time, so it has to be super light, so something unlined and the Kedah and you know.

00:44:43.978 --> 00:44:51.000
<v Jaime Levy>But I was happy to see that, even though they're under $600, that made me happy.

00:44:51.000 --> 00:45:03.271
<v Jaime Levy>But I think that that if you can continue to do bags that are $495, $395, you're going to get more wider leather and leather leather look non-leather.

00:45:03.271 --> 00:45:04.894
<v Jaime Levy>There's always going to be a customer.

00:45:04.956 --> 00:45:06.668
<v Jaime Levy>But a lot of these stores are doing private label now.

00:45:06.668 --> 00:45:14.867
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, you know ink is doing it for Macy's, so everybody that does non-leather is competing with ink, which means they're just not making them as much money.

00:45:14.867 --> 00:45:18.815
<v Jaime Levy>So I've been in that market so many times and it's hard.

00:45:18.815 --> 00:45:19.726
<v Jaime Levy>You know what I mean.

00:45:19.726 --> 00:45:27.333
<v Jaime Levy>Definitely energy sales, but you're competing against a division that they are making more money on their own bags and it's like that in a lot of the stores.

00:45:27.333 --> 00:45:33.826
<v Jaime Levy>So you know I don't know I could tell you about that the Fed was announcing a new interest rate today.

00:45:33.826 --> 00:45:36.726
<v Jaime Levy>I don't know if they did it already Listen.

00:45:36.847 --> 00:45:38.777
<v Emily Blumenthal>everything is going up, eggs are going up.

00:45:38.777 --> 00:45:44.476
<v Emily Blumenthal>I always say, like, look at how much your state costs and that should correlate to how much your handbag, because it's coming from the same animal.

00:45:44.844 --> 00:45:47.257
<v Jaime Levy>Everything is everything, lumber everything.

00:45:47.257 --> 00:45:47.960
<v Jaime Levy>I mean it's not.

00:45:47.960 --> 00:45:49.266
<v Jaime Levy>You know, everybody took a hit.

00:45:49.266 --> 00:46:00.057
<v Jaime Levy>And if fashion is still a priority to you and you still need a new handbag, like I did today or yesterday, whenever I did it then you do what you make, you prioritize what you can.

00:46:01.327 --> 00:46:01.706
<v Emily Blumenthal>Jamie.

00:46:01.706 --> 00:46:03.311
<v Emily Blumenthal>It has been a pleasure.

00:46:03.311 --> 00:46:11.052
<v Emily Blumenthal>Jamie, give everybody how they can follow you, what you do now, and if anybody has any more questions.

00:46:11.052 --> 00:46:15.059
<v Emily Blumenthal>You are the oracle upon oracles of handbags.

00:46:15.059 --> 00:46:17.590
<v Emily Blumenthal>You are the clutch to my cross body.

00:46:17.590 --> 00:46:18.934
<v Emily Blumenthal>How do we find you?

00:46:19.965 --> 00:46:24.585
<v Jaime Levy>And you are amazing and I've loved you for years and somebody that actually has a book.

00:46:24.585 --> 00:46:27.054
<v Jaime Levy>I see right behind you handbag designer 101.

00:46:27.054 --> 00:46:29.043
<v Jaime Levy>I mean, come on, who's better than you?

00:46:29.043 --> 00:46:31.210
<v Jaime Levy>I am at Douglas Eleman Real Estate.

00:46:31.210 --> 00:46:32.916
<v Jaime Levy>I am in sales.

00:46:32.916 --> 00:46:34.121
<v Jaime Levy>I do sales and rentals.

00:46:34.121 --> 00:46:42.838
<v Jaime Levy>I can be reached at Jamie J-A-I-M-ELevy, at elementcom or follow me on Instagram if you like.

00:46:42.838 --> 00:46:44.048
<v Jaime Levy>15 year olds, it's.

00:46:44.048 --> 00:46:58.795
<v Jaime Levy>Jamie, not that kind of 15 year olds, yeah exactly my dog, j-a-i-m-ellevy, l-e-v-y, l-e-v-y on Instagram and again always here for handbag questions too.

00:46:58.795 --> 00:46:59.996
<v Jaime Levy>Certainly on the front.

00:47:00.844 --> 00:47:01.952
<v Emily Blumenthal>We're totally going to have you back.

00:47:01.952 --> 00:47:02.797
<v Emily Blumenthal>This is so like.

00:47:02.797 --> 00:47:04.346
<v Emily Blumenthal>There's so much more to talk about.

00:47:04.346 --> 00:47:08.202
<v Emily Blumenthal>Oh my God, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on handbag designer 101.

00:47:08.202 --> 00:47:10.811
<v Emily Blumenthal>We will absolutely be talking soon, for sure.

00:47:10.811 --> 00:47:12.378
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much.

00:47:12.378 --> 00:47:15.347
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thank you so much I am Thanks for listening.

00:47:15.648 --> 00:47:20.728
<v Emily Blumenthal>Don't forget to rate and review, and follow us on every single platform at handbag designer.

00:47:20.728 --> 00:47:21.608
<v Emily Blumenthal>Thanks so much.

00:47:21.608 --> 00:47:22.610
<v Emily Blumenthal>See you next time.